Sacked Region Six Regional Executive Offi-cer (REO) Paul Ramrattan yesterday described his dismissal as a “scornful act,” as he maintained that he never used his office in a partisan manner and had carried out his duties in professionally and lawfully.
Speaking for the first time since his dismissal, Ramrattan, who yesterday spent the last day in an office he had occupied since 2012, told Stabroek News that when he entered the public service in 2006 he had anticipated that he would have remained until he reached the age of retirement.
Ramrattan has been replaced by APNU+AFC candidate Dr Veerasammy Ramayya, whose appointment has been criticised as hypocritical by the opposition PPP/C.
Ramrattan said even though the government changed, he did not expect to be fired “because when in opposition this government preached about professionalism and I thought it would have been the golden opportunity to use the people who were already in the system.”
Outlining his qualifications for the post, Ramrattan said he is an Institute of Cost and Executive Accountants (ICEA) graduate and also studied at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the UK Chapter of the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute. Prior to entering the public service and before he would have completed his studies in the UK over a five-year period, Ramrattan said, he had worked with Banks DIH for a number of years and his last position there was branch manager for Linden.
He noted that in 2006, he started out as the Regional Coordinator for the Community Drainage and Irrigation Programme in Region Three. In 2007, he was promoted to Principal Assistant Secretary of Finance and in 2010 once more to acting REO in Region Three. Upon his confirmation in January, 2012, he was reassigned to Region Six, where he remained until his dismissal.
Ramrattan noted that REOs are in fact public servants who head the region’s budget agency and they wear many caps, including that of chief accounting officer, chief administrative officer, chief financial officer and clerk of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC).
He said REOs used to be on pensionable service and were appointed through the Guyana Public Service Union. Although they are now contracted workers, he stated that their appointments are governmental as opposed to political.
“I don’t consider the REOs as political appointees,” he said.
“I am dismayed at what the government is saying right now… I have not conducted my work in any partisan manner,” he reiterated.
Over the past three years, he said, Region Six’s budget for capital works was expanded to $100 million and covered all the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and three municipalities. According to Ramrattan, as head of the budget agency he always advised the RDC to ensure wide consultation was done and he served the council members and those of the NDCs with printed sheets for proposals for projects to be incorporated into the annual budget.
“I find it very disturbing that the government of the day, my employer, is saying that I am lacking in terms of proper consultation in performance of my duties,” he said.
Speaking specifically to the accusation of the unfair award of contracts, Ramrattan pointed out that the REO does not award contracts as every contract goes through the Regional Tender Board, which has five members. In addition, contracts beyond $9 million go to the National Tender Board and those beyond $12 million are taken before Cabinet for its no objection.
Ramrattan said it was on August 31 that he received a call from the Ministry of Communities informing him that his contract, which had an expiry date of January 31, 2016, was being terminated on September 7, in accordance with Clause 7 (A). He later received a dismissal letter informing him of his entitlement and thanking him for his service.
On Sunday, Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan defended the government appointing party supporters to the positions of REOs, saying that the new officers should be judged on their performance. He stated that the previous REOs went about their duties in a partisan manner and argued that what was underappreciated was that the real issue had to do with “the political loyalty” of the REOs that the administration inherited. He said the previous REOs did not respect the authority of the RDCs, especially those that were opposition-controlled. He said they allowed themselves to be used as vehicles to marginalise the authority of the council. The PPP/C currently controls seven of the 10 regional councils.
“They performed their duties in a particularly vile and partisan manner,” Bulkan said.
Responding to the PPP/C’s argument that Ramrattan was not associated with the party, the minister had charged that he has a lot of evidence to the contrary but would only make this public if the former REO himself disputed this fact. He said he did not want to get into a shouting match with the PPP/C.
In the past, Bulkan had emphasised that the operations and management of the regions should not be politicised.
Since its election in May, government removed nine of the 10 REOs it found when it entered office, with Peter Ramotar, brother of former President Donald Ramotar, being the only exception as he had his contract renewed.
An advertisement that was placed by the Communities Ministries for new REOs had stipulated that applicants must have a Master’s Degree in Administration, with five years managerial experience or a first degree in Management or Public Management or any other related field, with 10 years’ managerial experience in the public sector. It also called for the applicant to have a knowledge of the Local Democratic Organs Act 1980, among other related acts.
